Mangalitsa pigs

Has anyone raised these? Any advice? I'm planning on 5 for breeding stock, then another 5-10 berk/manga crosses for this year's freezer camp. I'm going to do 2 separate pens with hot wire to raise them to size, then build another to keep the manga boar separate. We have 18 acres to build silvo pasture on and rotate them Joel salatin style which is the plan. I've done a bunch of research on this already, we have a family milk cow, 100 birds (ducks geese chicken turkey) for eggs and breeding sales, 3 goats and 2 mini pigs already. I figured I'd see if there was anymore knowledge or advice more experienced farmers had to share.

Thanks!

Roland

I’m raising Mangalitsas. Great idea on the electric fence.. it’s about the only fencing they respect! Mine get fermented grains and milk for breakfast, run of a swampy pasture all day, and restaurant and school food waste for dinner. They are healthy and hardy, and pretty well tempered. Also good of you to separate the boars and control breeding. I did that for a while, but was forced to put them all together for reasons.. and I think I’m about to experience a population explosion.. I’m currently looking to offload all boars, and find a new boar from outside genetics. I’m in Nevada, by the way..

They're gorgeous! I'm in NY, if you were closer I'd absolutely consider it lol it would be nice to have someone to swap genetics with to keep them healthy in the long run. And yeah, in our back we have some wet areas I was going to turn into a small creek type place. And I'm planning on breeding them so the boar will have his fun but I don't want the population to explode that quickly lol how long do yours take to dress out? I was actually going to do the same and get food from local places like restaurants and grocery stores. But local schools is a good idea too!

Thanks.. I haven’t butchered any yet, but just got off the phone with a guy who is willing to help in that department. That’s a job and a half, and I’m all by myself out here. Between feeding my pigs and other critters, and daily issues with goats, and trying to hold this place together, I can barely think about anything else. I haven’t even found the time lately to butcher five roosters, let alone a grown pig.

I totally hear that man. Good on you for keeping it up as much as you can though! And honestly goats have been nothing but a pain in my ass, but my wife loves them so that's why we still have them lol I tried to give them some left over smart beet pellets and they've had the runs for 2 whole days. Learned my lesson on that one real quick.

I love my goats, but they do their best to try my patience on a daily basis. I put them in a new pasture (after they cleared the swamp zone for the pigs to root) and left the electric fence there for the pigs, who are more critical to contain in my estimation. The fence is far from perfect in the goats new area, and they exploit every weakness. I’ve just about fixed every weak spot, but one or two still manage to squeak out every day. There is a reason the devil is depicted as a goat!

This is our family milk cow peaches, and below are the goats lol they're still fairly young.

Looks cozy.. Congratulations on your efforts!

Thanks man! I wish you the best of luck with your goat fencing. I'm sure you'll have it sealed up just right soon enough.

My parents raised a few pigs while I was growing up.  My mom worked at the high school cafeteria and fed our pigs on buckets of thrown away food.  It's a great way to do it if you have an in with the school.

Hi everyone, first post here, I've been messin' around with Mangalitza pigs for the past three years but more as a sideshow to my beloved collection of Iberian pigs.
  I am located in Eastern Europe, close to Transylvania where the Mangalitza breed is said to have originated. These are hardy animals bred for fat production, a bit too much fat for my taste to be honest which is the reason I've been crossing this breed with the Iberians hoping to inverse the 60%/40% fat to meat ratio to a more palatable 40%/60%.
  Also the Iberians are quite cold sensitive so crossing them with Mangalitza should, in theory help them to survive the winters outside. At the moment it's just a small flock so I kept them indoors for the winter but in the future I want to be able to leave them in their enclosed forest for the whole year.

I used to sell some pork from a guy who had been a lawyer and then started raising Mangalitsas in the Catskills. He was really enthusiastic about the breed for that climate. I remember the cuts we got having a huge amount of high quality fat in them. Our store wasn't really the best market for that pork so I didn't stay up to date on his operation, and I don't see it showing as "in business" anymore. I have a feeling it had more to do with the marketing aspect because the pork was really exceptional and I imagine you could get great lard too.

Edit to add- I found an article about the aforementioned lawyer/pig farmer : https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/08/03/208348598/bringing-home-the-woolly-bacon-from-hungary